Linkbar

>> Saturday, December 24, 2011

Once again inspired by the pompom festival at City of Craft I used pompoms to decorate our winter wreath. I was also inspired by some beautiful wreaths I've seen made from succulents. I love the mix of blue-greens.

So this one is essentially a tube (5" x 36") of thick wool fabric sewn together into a circle then squeezed into a wire frame to hold its shape. It was a bit of a rush job, so I think I may add some more details later, but for now it just has a few wool leaves sewn on, then pompoms and wool flowers clustered in one corner at the bottom. To finish it off I added a velvet ribbon and a store-bought bird that was amongst our decorations pinned in place in the centre.

This wreath was very easy to make, just cut flowers from wool felt in a variety of sizes and colours and layer them up, then create a few pompoms. I pinned everything in place before sewing it down to make sure I liked the arrangement. If you want to be extra quick you could bring out the glue gun and attach everything that way. Another option is to use a wreath form and cover it with yarn wound around it, then attach the decorations.

>> Thursday, December 15, 2011

My latest Spoonflower contest was a baby book. Mine is called Animal Friends and it fits on a fat quarter. With a yard you get two books and two sets of matching stuffed animal characters.

My entry was #8! As before when you're in the top ten your fabric is printed by Spoonflower and becomes available for sale. You can find my book here.

I thought I would show some pictures so you can see it larger and also how the pages look in spreads once the book is cut out and arranged.

You can click on them to see them larger. Here they are:

Today I did a little tweak to the file so that the page numbers would line up perfectly because when I created these spreads I noticed some that were slightly off. Also I lightened the background blue on page one a bit. Overall this one was a lot of work but a really fun project!
Read more...

>> Tuesday, December 13, 2011

This is a little glimpse of my table from City of Craft. I had painted some branches for my display and they turned out to be perfect for hanging my wool pompom bird ornaments. These birds were definitely the stars at my table, they sold out at A Handmade Holiday, then at City of Craft by noon on Saturday and the few more I managed to make in the evening were gone by the end of day two.

I didn't invent pompom birds, but I think people liked the way these birds have a mix of colours that make them really looked like chickadees, or, (pictured above) a wood thrush. After the first batch I took Kalpna's suggestion and added glass bead eyes. This one was my favourite, so I'm extra happy it was captured in a beautiful photograph by the talented show photographer Celine Kim.

As always I'm left stunned by the incredible skill of lovely Becky in creating and managing such a wonderful, inspiring and also really really fun craft show. I can show you the treats I brought home in another post, but it was also about meeting new people, chatting about crafts and being inspired by everyone's creations, and, of course, winning a prize at Nutso (thanks to Chevaux de Bois for the Nutso board and Bespoke Uprising for donating my lovely fabric bundle prize!). Thank you to all the friends how visited, I loved seeing everyone.

Yesterday I was so tired I just watched a lot of tv and did a little quiet hand sewing for something I had the notion to make but no time until now. hint: she will make her appearance in my next post once her accessories are finished!
Read more...

I finally had a chance to hem my Spoonflower tea towel calendar! It's formatted for cotton-linen so that each fat quarter is a tea towel. The fabric arrived with some crop marks in the corner so you just trim the fabric so that it's straight then hem. I ironed the hem on both sides, then cut a little triangle from the corner to reduce bulk before sewing. It's really very quick and easy.

Here's another picture:

I haven't washed the fabric yet, and it has a little stiffness so that it actually hangs nicely on the wall with just two pins at either corner.

And lastly, here's a new bird clutch, this time in a green plaid fabric
I got at the Workroom from Karyn at one of the vintage Trunk shows. Because as much as I love Spoonflower, right now for me it's still all about City of Craft!

>> Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Here's something new I created for City of Craft coming up this weekend. It's a new design - a larger clutch with a wool felt chickadee applique on the front. Inside there's a matching wool tweed facing and then a faux bois fabric lining on the bottom. I busted out my fancy new floral labels for this one!

I also made some new pompom birds since the last batch sold out at the Handmade Holiday show last weekend. Thanks so much to everyone who visited. I picked up a few nice treats myself.

Here are the details on City of Craft this weekend:

City of Craft
December 10 & 11
Saturday 11-6pm
Sunday 11-5pm
The Theatre Centre 1087 Queen St. West
Thrush Holmes Empire 1093 Queen St. West
http://cityofcraft.blogspot.com/

As you see, this year there is an additional venue, the Thrush Holmes Empire. I'm in the Theatre Centre again, downstairs in the middle of the left wall as you walk in facing the stage. I love City of Craft, and I'm predicting that it will be as wonderful as always. Hope to see you there!
Read more...

>> Thursday, December 01, 2011

I had an email from Spoonflower this morning, my Kite Friends fabric was in the top ten for this weeks design contest! It snuck in at #10. I was thrilled. Extra fun: getting to see pics of my fabric before it's arrived in my mailbox. Since it was in the top ten, this design is now available in my shop. *Today is the last day of 2-for-1 fat quarters.*

And a last minute reminder about A Handmade Holiday this Saturday. I love this video insight into the Kid Icarus shop and creative process. I also spotted my plaid coffee sleeve in the third shot!
Read more...

Welcome to the needle book blog

In a nutshell, I'm a freelance illustrator and inveterate crafter. Click on the picture above to see my full profile. You can email me at needlebook [at] clairelouisemilne.com. Thank you for your comments and for linking to me!-:- Claire -:-

Please do not use any photos or content from needle book blog without permission.